Injured Soldier's Father Helps Other Casualties And Families

July 05, 2007|By BRANDON LEONARD The Washington Times

WASHINGTON — Michael Sparling spent a recent afternoon helping an injured soldier around Walter Reed Army Medical Center. It was a gesture he has performed many times in the past year and a half since his son also arrived at the hospital to recover from war injuries received in Iraq, but one that may soon be coming to an end.

"When my son leaves, I don't know if I'll be able to," said Sparling, who also volunteers his time, expertise and energy to help other families navigate the paperwork and stress he has faced during his son's recovery.

His son, Joshua, 25, a paratrooper for the Army's 82nd Airborne, is receiving medical treatment at the hospital in Washington for severe injuries from a bomb that hit him while he was pursuing insurgents in Iraq.

Thousands of mothers, fathers, wives and husbands have left home at a moment's notice to be by a soldier's side, but many didn't expect the emotional, financial and bureaucratic struggles of the transition.

"Very few (families) have everything together when they get here, and I want to show them someone cares," Sparling said. "When these soldiers are injured, families need to be able to take care of their sons and daughters first."

Sparling quit his job as a marketing director and drove more than 550 miles from Port Huron, Mich., to Walter Reed after receiving the call telling him his son was severely wounded.

Walter Reed's Malone House already has a support group of volunteers, known as Soldiers' Angels, that works daily with the families. But Lynette Frascella, director of the group's Wounded Soldiers Program, still tells families to go see Sparling.

"He takes them under his wing and through the process," Frascella said. "He is very knowledgeable about the workings of the Malone House and the Walter Reed system."

Walter Reed, off Georgia Avenue Northwest, is a part of the U.S. military's primary health care system and specializes in surgery and rehabilitation for head, limb and upper-body injuries. The Army medical center's Soldier Family Assistance Program assigns an escort to every family, who begins by taking members to the buildings they will need to visit on the 113-acre campus.

Cliff Stanback, one such liaison, was introduced to Sparling and his son when they came to Walter Reed in November 2005.

Stanback said he often refers families to Sparling because he knows all the shortcuts for the paperwork and the staffers who can help families quickly receive what they need.

Sparling makes about 15 trips a week to local airports, dropping off and picking up soldiers and their families. Such trips can often cost as much as $70 each.

Sparling also has formed a foundation called America's Wounded Hero to support any service member wounded or injured defending the United States. After soldiers leave Walter Reed, Sparling also helps them return to civilian or military life. Among the biggest problems is surviving financially until military benefits start.

Sparling said the foundation will help service members get necessities that military benefits and Medicare do not cover.

"You can tell the charities that care for the people, and those that are charities to be charities," Sparling said. *